Week of August 10, 2009

It's Friday, so for fun today I've got four unattributable sayings, another from a Chinese philosopher ... and one from a friend:

1. Some old and new ways of looking at the proverbial half-filled glass:

The optimist says the glass is half full.

The pessimist says the glass is half empty.

The project manager/engineer says the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

The realist says the glass contains half the required amount of liquid for it to overflow.

And the cynic .... wonders who drank the other half.

2. When you think your older associate could not be more wrong:

Wisdom does not always come with age -- sometimes age comes alone

3. On being resilient:

Life is not about how fast you run, or how high you climb, but how well you bounce.

4. These words of wisdom about clearing your mind are attributed to Lao Tsu, a Chinese philosopher who lived sometime between 600 and 400 BC:

When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be

5. In this one, think of the "circus" as the broadcasting business:

If you can't ride two horses at the same time, you shouldn't be in the circus

6. And finally from a friend who said this after he left his General Manager position at a TV station:

I won't miss the circu,s but I surely will miss the clowns

Since my early days as an air personality, then Program Director, and into my station management years, I have wondered why so many on the air can't seem to figure out that folks listen to the radio one person at a time, even if it's a car pool.

Listening to radio is a personal act, probably because it requires the listener to use imagination to complete the picture. If you've been on the air, you know until a person actually sees the air personality, the mind creates a picture (usually better looking that reality). You hear, "I thought you were taller, thinner, blonde, brunette" ... and my favorite, "You sound so much better looking." Great air personalities build excellent mind pictures of what they are talking about for each listener.

There is one essential concept an air personality needs if he/she is going to solidly get into the minds of the listeners. That concept is that the "s" needs to go away from the word listener. The air personality's view of what's on the other side of the microphone must be a solid mind picture of a typical listener, then that listener must be talked to directly.

Okay, you're saying, "Yeah, everybody knows that." So, why do we still hear phrases like these on the air: "hey, everybody" ... "all of you" ... "everyone out there" ... believe it or not ,I heard recently the epitome of dumb -- "guys and gals." OMG!

You are responsible for what comes out of the speaker and into an ear. Do the basics. Make sure you or those for whom you are responsible understand it isn't "all of you out there in radio land."

It's going to be interesting to see the fallout as 77-year-old Bob Lutz, the new General Motors Vice Chairman and head of marketing moves his initiatives forward for the company.

For those of you unfamiliar with Lutz, he is one of the mavericks of the automobile industry who has worked at BMW, Ford, Chrysler, and GM. (Hmm ... just like the resume' of an average radio guy -- Clear Channel, Cumulus, CBS, and Citadel ... Probably one of the reasons radio and auto guys understand each other.) He is very outspoken; once he referred to global warming as "a crock of &@*#." (Again, honest like a "radio guy.") Oh, also he was a Marine jet pilot out of college in the mid-'50s and collects motorcycles and military airplanes ... he owns his own high-tech Czech jet trainer.

In Ad Age he was quoted as saying that if six months from now, "GM ads look the same as they did six months ago, then somebody really needs to ask, 'Why is Lutz here?'" So it's obvious he is planning on shaking things up. He said, "Safe stuff just doesn't break through; it can't be business as usual in terms of our marketing, because business as usual has not worked."

What are his plans? He told Automotive News he want advertising that's more product-driven, is going to use his designers in the creative process and will have other GM executives involved in the approval process. He is going to lean on PR and viral marketing.

Okay folks, there you go. These are the marching orders for the agencies pitching to keep or get the GM business. If the current agencies don't come through with something innovative, watch out for some new blood. Start planning now to show whomever is filtering marketing dollars to the battlefield you have the creativity to do something effective, that's not "business as usual," and helps them with PR and viral marketing.

Remember, radio has the best and biggest-targeted platforms to make people aware of digital initiatives. I can't say it enough; DON'T MAKE IT BUSINESS AS USUAL! Be ready to present something that will actually send people to digital. Those of you who still have jocks who can do more than read liner cards, be ready to have them use their best one-on-one creativity to move people to wherever GM wants them.

I know you need money today, but if you don't plan and sell ahead, you're going down. Get with your GM contacts and talk to them about Lutz and his new marketing initiatives. Keep it positive, even if the car guys are apprehensive. Be a marketing person who makes them more comfortable with their new guy. This 77-year-old maverick is going to shake the marketing tree; position yourself under it and catch the fruit.

In your efforts to get as much revenue on the books as possible, please remember there are moral and ethical lines you should not cross; not to mention legal and company policy lines.

Here are some moves that might get you into trouble:

1. You decide to move a little money from one week or one month to another to make your pacing look better. Or even worse, you do it to get your bonus. If everyone understands what you are doing, including the client and whomever you report to, you are probably on solid ground. If you do it on your own, watch out, that might be a bullet headed right at you. And always, document approvals.

2. In your attempts to hold employees close and make them feel good, make sure your actions can never be misinterpreted as invading their space. Always err on the side of being perceived as a bit cold rather than too affectionate. You don't want a call from a lawyer saying you are being sued for some sort of harassment.

3. I know it is tempting to throw a party when goals are met, but be careful that you are not breaking any policies like the one against bringing alcohol into the station. Also, don't allow people to let their hair down too much. Remember, you are dealing with several individuals with differing sensibilities ... and frequently you don't know someone was offended until you get the call from an attorney.

4. There's a person working at the station who is someone with whom you would like to create a more personal relationship. It's always dangerous to date in the company, and if this person reports to you or has a lower ranking position on the organizational chart, make it only professional or quit your job and have a good time. It's great when you both are comfortable in the relationship, but when one or the other wants to move on it can be disastrous. Remember, most relationships don't last and one person goes away with bad feelings. Your rule should be: Do NOT fish in the company pond!

5. You want to make sure your employees know you are a regular, every day person so you let you guard down and become "one of them." This could be very bad if you aren't careful. It is always good to remain just a tiny bit aloof.

In the end, success is usually higher and certainly more rewarding if you only bend the rules. Be careful to not bend them to the breaking point.

Do you know someone who seems to always make the right decision and comes up with innovative ideas? Do you wonder how they always seem to find the not-so-obvious answer to an issue? Are you one of those people and wonder why everyone can't "feel" the right course of action? It's called intuition.

Back in the days before political correctness, there used to be a thing called "women's intuition" because women seem to just "know" what is going to happen, especially where child rearing and family issues are concerned.

The power of intuition has been ignored and put aside by the human need to have a solid answer for all problems before we act. After all, if you believe in the reality of intuitionn then you're afraid people will think you believe there are visitors from other planets living among us ... and the Bermuda Triangle is the ancient location of Atlantis with the residual powers causing anomalies in the atmosphere. Even so, most of us still have "hunches" that frequently turn out to be right.

The military may have found the answer to intuition. Their research is discovering that a number of people have a depth of intuition stronger than others. The military has found some troops can simply "sense" danger better than others. It's what makes great commanders and pilots. Who can argue that General George Patton, through study and intuition was able to anticipate Rommel's moves?

Interestingly, they are discovering the soldiers who are best at intuitively knowing they are in danger of improvised explosive devices along the Iraqi roads have a few things in common. They have an ability to sustain intense focus for long periods of time and have the ability to pick odd shapes masked in complex backgrounds ... like a "Where's Waldo?" skill. They are very sensitive to extremely subtle changes, such as a rock that wasn't on the road yesterday. Beyond that, they have the ability to step back and observe the bigger picture. Golfers, how many times after chunking a ball into the water have you said, "I should have stepped back and taken another practice swing because something told me this wasn't going to go well." That "something" was intuition.

Can you name someone in the business world who seems to know when and where to invest? Is it just that they have had so many varied experiences creating knowledge? Experience only takes them part of the way. Many people have the same basic experience, but these people are able to almost always make the right decision; people like Warren Buffet and Donald Trump (although the Donald probably goes a bit too much on emotion sometimes).

The lesson in all of this is to listen to your intuition then step back and take a moment to evaluate and decide if you should go with it. Maybe you'll hire that account executive you otherwise would have passed on, who goes on to be your competition's best AE, or find the unique digital initiative that makes you a bundle of cash.

Have a great week and listen to that little voice in your head.